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>> We're here at Gallaudet University's Kellogg Conference
Center for the Office
of the Tenant Advocate's first annual Tenant
and Tenant Association Summit.
Stay tuned for an exciting mix
of interviews featuring elected officials,
conference sessions and tenant activists.
We're here with Karen Williamson of the D.C. Coalition
for Rent Control at the Office
of the Tenant Advocate's first annual Tenant
and Tenant Association Summit.
Welcome Karen.
>> Karen Williamson: Thank you and I'm very happy to be here.
>> Talk about how the D.C. Coalition
for Rent Control is expanding
and the work they're seeking to do.
>> Karen Williamson: Well, we came here
to the OTA summit meeting to do a presentation about how we hope
to expand the D.C. Coalition for Rent Control to a broader focus
and rename it the D.C. Tenant Coalition.
We are hoping to have a broad coalition
of tenants across the city.
And the reason why we want
to do this is we have tenant groups here, tenant groups there
and they're all doing good work.
But, we feel it would be a good thing if we came together
and formed a coalition because there's strength in numbers.
>> What would be the goal of a city wide coalition
of tenant associations?
>> Karen Williamson: The goal of a city wide coalition
of tenant associations would be
to provide networking among tenants, tenant associations
about issues that they're struggling with,
problems that they're faced with such
as capital improvement petitions, voluntary--
70 percent voluntary rent increases,
substantial rehabilitation, TOPA rights.
That would be one of the goals, a networking
of tenant associations.
The other would be to lobby the City Council
to help implement stronger laws that affect tenants
to provide support to the Office of the Tenant Advocate,
to provide support to the City Council if they need tenants
to come out in numbers and testify and help lobby
to pass stronger laws that help tenants.
It's to help preserve tenant's rights,
strengthen tenant's rights across the city.
>> What was the message and what is the message that you want
to give to the people that are here today?
Many of them are heads of their tenant associations.
>> Karen Williamson: That we're glad
that their tenant associations are there and we know
that they're doing good work,
but we want to bring all tenants associations together
to form a stronger bond and to form a citywide coalition
because we believe that if we work together
that we can be more effective than if we work separately.
And we can help one another out
and share information among one another.
And we're very happy that the Office
of the Tenant Advocate is come into being
because we will also be working in connection with them in terms
of anything that they might need our help from or anything
that the City Council might need our help from.
The City Council has said that they need tenants
to support their efforts and that's what we want to do.
We want to get the word out to tenants
that the City Council is trying to help tenants
and they need tenants lobbying, tenant support.
>> What is a, what is an issue that's going
on that's facing tenants now that you think--
that you know that being together
as a coalition would really make a difference for tenants?
>> Karen Williamson: The current issue right now is
about the 70 percent voluntary increases
that are happening across the city.
Tenants need to understand about that law and how it works.
It's a law that says that if a landlord gets seventy percent
of the tenants to agree that he can raise the rents voluntarily.
But, what has been happening is the landlords have been
implementing this law in a way
that tenants don't understand what's going on.
Council member Mary Che is proposing legislation
that will tighten the law and Jim Graham is working with her
so we want to help lobby to get that law in place.
>> And, and I can see that a coalition can be very effective
in getting information out to people because there's a gap
of information and not knowing what's available.
>> Karen Williamson: Yes, that's right.
We also want to help get information out to people.
We will have a list served and we will get information
out to people about various hearings, about different laws
that have come into being that might affect them, about events
that tenants can attend.
Yes, it would be an information networking vehicle also.
>> And being here with so many people
from different tenant associations
at the summit today.
What makes you most hopeful that you've seen today?
>> Karen Williamson: That all these tenants are here today
and wanting to network with one another.
And there seems to be a good feeling among the tenants
and a feeling of feeling positive now that's there's the
Office of the Tenant Advocate
and that they've had this summit.
>> Alright, thank you so much.
>> Karen Williamson: Thank you.
>> We hope you enjoyed the conference.
For more information on the Office
of the Tenant Advocate visit the website, www.ota.dc.gov.
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